Australian Mom of 2 Dies from ‘Extremely Rare’ Infection After Dog Bite

A week after receiving a seemingly innocent dog bite, a woman from Perth, Australia, is dead from a rare infection.

Tracy Ridout was playing with her friend’s German Shepherd when she suffered a small nip on her hand, PerthNow reported.

Ridout, 53, “didn’t think anything of” the bite, her daughter, Sophie Ridout, told the outlet. “It was not vicious or anything, she was playing with the dog and accidentally bit her finger instead of the toy.”

The following week, Tracy admitted herself to the hospital after the pain in her hand increased. She was informed that she had contracted a rare bacterial infection, Capnocytophaga canimorsus, that had spread to her kidneys, liver and blood, according to the outlet.

Within days, Tracy’s condition rapidly deteriorated and she was placed into an induced coma, according to PerthNow. On Friday, her family was told there was nothing left for doctors to do. 

“All of her organs have pretty much shut down,” Sophie told the outlet days before her mother’s death. “They’ve just taken her off dialysis and they just said whenever we’re ready at this point just to let her go.”

Tracy died from the infection on Tuesday. Sophie, who called the infection “extremely rare,” created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for medical bills and funeral costs. More than $6,000 has been raised for the family so far.

“She will be missed by all her friends and family,” Sophie wrote in the update.

Prior to Tracy’s death, Sophie and her brother, Kieran Ridout, told Australian outlet 9News that they want to spread the word about the bacteria to help others.

“I feel like the knowledge needs to be out there,” Kieran said. “God forbid it happens to someone else’s mum or someone’s family member in.”

Of the grief she’s felt since her mother’s diagnosis, Sophie said, “I’ve gone through shock, I’ve just broken down crying, I’ve also just thought, ‘No, this isn’t happening, this isn’t real.’”

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Michael Page, a doctor and member of the Australian Medical Association, told 9News that “the people who are at high risk of having an infected animal bite are those who have compromised immune systems, and that includes people with diabetes.”

Page advised that any animal bite should be seen by a doctor to be “properly cleaned out and had a close eye kept on it.”